👋 Brady Tkachuk! #NHLCombine #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/arHaWz1C3r

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) June 2, 2018

The consensus 3rd overall pick this NHL Draft is nearly already set with stud QMJHL winger F Zadina. Most praise his scoring ability, creativity, and attitude, and for good reason. But, I don’t believe the Canadiens will take this skilled winger with their 3rd overall pick later this month…

The Canadiens will walk up to the podium and take the Team USA standout, the 18 year old, 6’3”, 196 lbs man-child that is Brady Tkachuk. Brady impressed at the latest combine and showed that he is truly a specimen of a man (child). At his age you could project that he may actually grow taller and his body will develop into powerful force on the ice.

Brady Tkachuk on the new version of the bench press. Instead of reps it’s a power rating, how hard and fast a player can throw the bar up. Weight on the bar is a percentage of the player’s body weight pic.twitter.com/hGhLJGRvGh

— Adam Kimelman (@NHLAdamK) June 2, 2018

Tkachuk was a force during the World Junior tournament with 3 G, 6A, in 9 games on his way to a Bronze medal. His Freshman season in the NCAA (Boston Univ.) saw him score 8 G and 23 A in 40 games.

Brady played in all 40 contests led team in assists and shots (131) and finished fourth in points and second in plus-minus (+15). His 131 shots were tops among freshman in the NCAA and he was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team.

Brady Tkachuk’s turn at the long jump #NHLCombine #Tkachuk #THW pic.twitter.com/C97T2eIyo2

— Nathaniel A. Oliver (@NathanielAOlivr) June 2, 2018

Is Tkachuk another Jack Eichel? Not likely, but he also wasn’t used as BU’s top offensive threat despite his stats clearly showing he was.

This Tkachuk not only led the team in shots but also Totals Shot Attempts with 229 despite being 4th in team scoring. This may seem like a red flag to you, but let me explain why that is a positive and not a negative for Brady. He led the team in ES TSA with 176 but was 4th in PP TSA (and was 3 PP TSA away from being 5th). Tkachuk was not 1st line PP in BU apparently and we can only speculate how many points and shots this rookie would have had if he was on the Primary PP unit.

Brady was also sparingly used at C this year and produced a FO % of 46.8 (29-33). It’s possible that BU views Tkachuk as a future C for their program. Also consider that on this past USA Bronze medal winning Jr team, Tkachuk was one of only three 18 year old Forwards, and was dominant (Habs note: R Poehling was another 18 year year old F on the team).

2017‑18 Boston University Statistics Advanced Metrics : Brady Tkachuk dominant as a Rookie #NHLDraft2018 #Habs https://t.co/tTfETCQRh6

— Brandon Smillie (@BrandonSmillie) June 7, 2018

So you have a player that was not used on BU’s 1st units regularly and still put up almost PPG stats and is statistically the teams best offensive threat. Couple that with Tkachuk’s ability to be aggressive and physically impose his will on his opponents and his status with Team USA and you can see that Brady Tkachuk is a star on the rise.

Comparable to Jack Eichel? Not likely. Comparable to Ryan Getzlaf? That seems like a reasonable projection at this point.

The best is yet to come from Brady Tkachuk and it may perhaps come as early as next season with the Montreal Canadiens.

"He’s a complete package that can be impactful in every situation with and without the puck."

-Rave reviews for Brady Tkachukhttps://t.co/5FeijYcNFK

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 2, 2018

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